Acre confirmed more than a thousand cases of malaria in the first three months of the year, according to a survey | Acre

Data from the Acre Health Department (Sesacre) show that 1,042 confirmed cases of malaria in the state between January and March this year. In the same period of 2023, the number of positive cases reached 1,583. A reduction between the periods evaluated was 34.1%.

The survey was released this Thursday (25), World Malaria Day. The confirmed cases are in the following cities in Acre:

A malaria is caused by a protozoan transmitted by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito, which becomes infected when it bites a sick person. Diagnosis can be made using a blood sample or rapid test.

A disease has a cure, as the treatment is effective, simple and free. However, if it is not diagnosed and treated in a timely and appropriate manner, it can progress to serious forms. Hence the importance of anyone who has traveled in the last 15 days to a malaria-endemic area immediately seeking health services as soon as they experience any of these symptoms.

The main preventive measures are to install screens on doors and windows of houses, if possible; avoid building houses near forests and streams, as these are places where mosquitoes live and breed, and use mosquito nets and repellents.

The study also brings a number of notifications between 2022 and 2023 in the state of Acre. According to the balance, there was a 15.2% reduction in cases of the disease in the periods.

In 2022, they were 6,139 cases reported It is last year 5,204. Also according to the survey, the cities with the most notifications are in the Juruá Valley:

• Southern Cross
• Mâncio Lima
• Rodrigues Alves

Sesacre’s Environmental Health Surveillance Division highlighted in its report that the cases registered in Acre in 2023 represent almost 4% of the total records in the Amazon region. This was one of the reasons for the State to join the National Malaria Elimination Plan, which foresees the extinction of the disease in Brazil by 2035.

Malaria cases in Acre year by year

Data from 2007 to 2023

Source: Sesacre

Anyone can contract malaria. Those who have several infections of the disease can achieve partial immunity, with few or almost no symptoms. To date, complete immunity has not been observed. There is no approved vaccine against the disease.

In Brazil, the majority of malaria cases are concentrated in the Amazon Region – Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins. Other regions of the country have few reports, but the disease cannot be neglected due to its high lethality.

• High fever;
• chills;
• tremors;
• sweating;
• headache, which may occur cyclically.

According to the ministry, many people also feel nausea, vomiting, tiredness and lack of appetite, especially before the acute phase.

In general, after confirming the diagnosis of malaria, the patient receives treatment on an outpatient basis, with medications that are provided free of charge in SUS units. Only severe cases should be hospitalized immediately.